Take My Leave of You
by unfathomablestars
Summary: What if instead of taking the Doctor to the South Pole the TARDIS took him to the Jurassic Coast? Beth Latimer finds a raggedy man alone on the beach seemingly wanting to die, is she the woman that can make him reconsider? Rewrite of Twice Upon a Time. Set after the Broadchurch finale.


'Where have you taken me?' the Doctor questioned the TARDIS. 'If you're trying to make a point, I'm not listening. I don't want to change again. Never again! I can't keep on being somebody else. Wherever it is, I'm staying.'

The Doctor stepped through the wooden doors and found himself on a grassy cliff overlooking the sea. The sun was slowly setting bathing everything in a beautiful orange glow. The roaring waves were a distant echo but grew ever stronger as he trekked down the coast path to the sandy beach.

A sharp jolt of pain interrupted his listless trudging towards the shore sending him crashing to his knees. 'No!' the Doctor shouted in defiance as golden streams of light erupted from his face and hands. He plunged his hands into the wet sand causing the water to sizzle slightly. The light retreated. 'I will not change.'

'Are you alright love?'

The Doctor looked up to place the voice coming from further down the coastline. He faintly saw the figure of a woman.

'Hello? Is someone there?'

The figure kept walking closer, and the Doctor could see her clearly now. She was a short, thin woman with brown shoulder-length hair dressed simply in jeans and blue blouse underneath a dark green overcoat.

'Hi there, are you sure you're alright? Looks like you've been through the wars.' She said noting his own overcoat, which was tattered in so many places. The exposed red satin lining looked like splatters of blood in the evening light.

'No, it's bitey,' the Doctor said.

'Sorry?'

'The air, it's bitey. It's wet and bitey. I don't like it.'

'That's the sea breeze for you,' Beth proclaimed. 'Have you come down here for a holiday?'

'Sort of. One last trip, I don't know why I'm here though. Where even is 'here'?'

'This is Broadchurch. How did you not know? There's only one road in and out.'

'I came by ship. But I never really know where I'm going, there's always some reason, just takes me a while to figure it out sometimes,'

He was rambling, Beth had figured. She decided to persevere anyway.

'My name's Beth. What's yours?'

'I'm the Doctor.'

'Come on; I'll take you my place, get you warmed up. A nice mug of hot chocolate that's what always cheers me up.'

What was she thinking? He could be anyone; she couldn't let him into her house. But he looked so lost, so defeated.

She had an almost innate need to help people. Since becoming an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor, Beth had talked to all kinds of vulnerable people. She was there to support them and offer them advice but it wasn't like she was a proper counsellor, she wasn't qualified to deal with sort of thing. Whenever she had a client that had talked about suicide she'd refer it on to someone else.

But it made Beth think back to that time in her own life, just after she lost her son Danny to when she was so alone, so afraid. Even though she had people around her to support her, all she'd want was for someone to understand and above all be kind. Not out of obligation or because it was their job but just because it was the decent thing to do.

'No really I'm fine,'

'I'm not taking no for an answer.' Beth declared. 'So I guess we'll just stand here and freeze to death,' Those words caught in her mouth. It wasn't long after her husband Mark had tried to kill himself here of hypothermia. Thankfully he was found and eventually got better, at least, physically. He was another person Beth had lost. Not dead, at least, but it had been a few months without any contact. She wouldn't allow another person to suffer.

'Okay.' The Doctor complied. He had helped the universe so many times, maybe this time he thought he should let someone else help him.

* * *

'Hey Chloe I'm back, is everything alright? Did you check on Lizzie?'

It had only been a few hours since Beth had put Lizzie to bed and headed to the beach that was still far too long for Beth to be away from her beautiful little girl. It would soon be her third birthday, and she was growing up so fast that she wanted to treasure every moment. She had wanted to check on her herself right now but thought it was best to keep an eye on the Doctor in case there was any trouble.

'Yeah, it's all been fine, Lizzie's sound asleep.' Chloe said spotted the stranger in the hallway. 'Who's that?'

'Just someone I'm working with. Do you mind giving us some space?'

'Nah,' Chloe said giving her mum a quick hug before heading upstairs.

* * *

'There you go,' Beth said handing the Doctor the mug of hot chocolate.

He felt too tired to say thank you instead opting to raise the mug in a kind of salute of gratitude. Beth took a seat on the sofa and gestured for the Doctor to join her which he followed.

'Feeling better?' Beth asked.

'A little.'

'Do you want to talk about what's wrong? Maybe I can help?'

'I lost someone,' the Doctor said. 'Someone very special to me.'

Bill Potts. His student and friend who smiled at the unknown. She had been so inquisitive, funny, and above all brave. He had failed her, he couldn't even promise to keep her safe, and now she was dead, brutally converted in a Cyberman.

'I lost my someone too. My son. Three years ago today. The beach was where they found his body and I saw it there, on the worst day of the life.' Beth said, fighting back tears. 'But we reclaimed it, that beautiful beach. Because I remember dipping his chubby little legs in the water, making sand castles with him. Same things I does with my baby daughter now. You have to keep hold of those happy memories because when they're gone, that's all we really have.'

 _Memories_. That made the Doctor focus back on his regeneration. They'd be all he'd have if he went through with it.

'I've lost some much more than her. All my life I've lost, lost everything that I am. Literally,' the Doctor cried.

'That's what loss does, it changes us. It changed me and my family. This whole town. You can't let it break you. What we do now, that's who we are. That's how we win.'

What was he going to do now? She was right he couldn't just give up because it hurt or because he didn't want to change. Everyone changes, Beth was proof of that, he could tell from her eyes that her sunshine spirit had faded. But she was still fighting, still living. That's what mattered.

'Thank you, Beth,' the Doctor smiled.

'Thank you, Doctor.'

The Doctor gave her a sincere hug before getting up to leave.

'Are you sure you're all right?' Beth asked.

'Yes I am. I have to change. But I'm not going to let it break me.'

The Doctor shut the door quietly and just like that he was gone, Beth felt like it was all a dream. She went upstairs to check on Lizzie still sleeping like a log and smiled at her.

* * *

The Doctor turned towards the horizon for one last time; the sun had gone by now having been replaced by the infinitely deep blue sky which was punctuated with gleaming light from thousands of stars. He looked up to see them, focusing on one that was brighter than all the others as a few tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. He smiled softly.

* * *

The new Doctor was here. They stood frozen for a moment, shocked by the massive change that had occurred. Everything felt different. The Doctor grabbed the handle of the monitor and swung it round to examine their self. They were a woman. Not just any woman but one that had a striking resemblance to Beth, albeit with slightly shorter dyed blonde hair.

'Oh, brilliant!' the Doctor exclaimed, pulling the widest of grins.

Her last face was a reminder to save people. This new face was a reminder to let herself be saved.


End file.
